Match Day 6 – 7/06/2008 – C’s

JUN

12

FC Adelaide welcomed Cove to the Western Youth Centre for the highly anticipated top of the table clash. This was to be the biggest test of the season so far, with Cove considered by many to be the team to beat for the C Grade championship. With Benny ‘Baby Bird Ward, John Samaras and Jorge ‘el Jefe’ Calderon all unavailable, the squad was lacking some defensive depth. This was truly going to test us to the full.

As the game got under way, Cove showed exactly why they will be the team to beat this season. Some of their players would not have been out of place in a higher division, with their squad carrying some high quality players for Div 5.

Adelaide looked shaky early on with Cove applying strong pressure. Sure enough after 10 mins, our defence cracked. There was little stand-in keeper Brinias could do after a sublime cross from the left saw the Cove striker head home confidently from less than 5 yards. It was a quality goal, 1-0 to Cove.

This was not the first time we had conceded early this season, but it was the first time we had not struck back immediately. Our boys were looking a bit flat, and the back four, being led by ‘the President’ himself, were struggling to keep the Cove at bay. ‘Lethal’ Cosma was being given a torrid time at right back, with Cove making good use of the flanks in their attacking moves.

It was proving to be a bruising encounter with our boys unhappy with some of the treatment being dished out by the physical Cove team. ‘Pipa’ was almost KO’d after a solid challenge saw him crash to the ground heavily. He bravely regained his composure to hold up the middle of the park with Country boy in the absence of ‘el Jefe’. ‘The Bull’ was casting a lonely figure up front, constantly surrounded by 3-4 defenders and lacking support due to our midfielders being forced to defend for long periods and ‘The Flash’ was also being well shackled. To our credit we did not concede again and our toughest half of the season so far left us just a goal down at the break.

Things improved a bit in the second half. Brinias managed to shake off a leg injury, preventing us from having to put ‘the President’ back in goals and we appeared to be evening up the contest. Unfortunately for Adelaide, Cove doubled their lead on 60 minutes with a very similar goal to their first. Our defense got caught failing to clear the ball effectively and were made to pay with another good cross from the left by-line by Cove just beating ‘the Enforcer’ in the air and their striker once again managed to put a quality header into the back of the net. 2-0 to Cove.

‘Lethal’ Cosma and Michael ‘baby face’ Evangelou made way for Carlos ‘the Wedding Singer’ and Ferrrrrnando Figuero who was making a special guest appearance for the C’s. The changes had a positive effect on the pattern of play and we began to look like the better team as the game moved into its final phase. On 70 minutes we were rewarded with a goal that was made more from determination than quality. It was almost rugby like in the way ‘the Great Wall’ forced the ball over the line after their keeper failed to control the ball. It was just reward for his effort and the team as a whole.

The goal set up an interesting final 10 minutes. FC Adelaide were forced to remove ‘the President’ for a rest before the B’s game which he was also playing, as ‘the Veteran’ Evan came on for the last 10 minutes of the game up front and ‘The Bull’ moved back to sweeper. Unfortunately the equalizer didn’t materialize and ‘the Pimp’ blew full time consigning our boys to their first defeat of the season.

There were a few sore looking lads hobbling off of the pitch at the end. It was a tough, physical game. Cove showed they are the real deal but it was a shame we faced them without a full strength team. Next week St Peters……….

Leigh McGillick